In getting away from Brier, Gideon ended up a little closer to one of the other groups of adults than he intended.

“Prospect Gideon!” one of the men said brightly. “A word or two, or three.”

“Or several hundred,” one of his companions said. “I’m going to get in line, Raoul.”

Raoul turned his head and nodded at him. “Very well.” His light brown curly hair or it might have been in the golden blonde spectrum, it was hard to tell with the light, his hair swayed about his shoulders, and he turned back to Gideon with an inquisitive look.

Gideon shifted on his feet. He thought he’d heard about this guy. “You’re the professor,” he said. Hope had said something about him.

“Indeed,” Raoul said. “Go ahead and eat before your food gets cold.”

Gideon sighed. “It might be too late for that.”

Raoul gestured to a few chairs that were now empty. “I was wondering exactly where you were from. The rumor mill says New York and I find New York to be a broad, vague, and large area to come from.”

Gideon grinned at him and sat down. “So is Colorado.” He used the side of his fork to cut up his pancakes.

“You understand my predicament.”

“Why are you interested?” Gideon asked.

Raoul turned his chair and sat down in it. He leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees. “I study werewolves,” he said. “At the university, I study and teach about anthropology, the study of men, and I study and teach biology, specifically wolf biology using our own wolf pack on the reservation we have here in Jasper and the others associated with our Club.

“I try to bring what I know of men and what I know of wolves together to try to understand what is going on in our heads, as werewolves. It’s fascinating. You see,” Raoul’s eyes lit up, “it has been observed that wolves when leaving their home pack and searching for new territory have traveled up to eight hundred miles.”

Gideon shifted in his chair. “I guess I’m not adverse to talking about it,” he said.

Raoul straightened and beamed. “Excellent.”

Gideon felt required to be something of a smart ass. “Though the distance is going to depend on how you think about it.” He took a few deliberate bites of his food and raised an eyebrow at Raoul.

Raoul didn’t seem the least bit offended. He grinned. “Why don’t you tell me where you’re from and how you got here and then we’ll worry about distances? It is the journey that makes the difference.”

Gideon grinned back at him. He turned his plate to get at his eggs better. “I lived on a rural farm near Owasco. It’s in the Fingerlakes region. I guess the nearest town you’d know of is Ithaca, home of Cornell University and that’s a good forty miles away.”

“Big school.” Raoul nodded.

Gideon rubbed his fingers together. “Expensive. I checked every once in a while, as the crow flies, on my travels how far I was from ‘home,’ as a matter of interest. It’s habit. I’d do it on tour too if I knew where I was. It’s about sixteen hundred miles from here.” He raised an eyebrow at Raoul. “That’s twice the number you quoted me.”

“Ah, but we’re werewolves, not pure wolves,” Raoul said. “It makes a difference since we have autos and motorcycles and transports and such that help us along other than our own two feet.”

Gideon grinned. “I didn’t leave with a destination.” He shrugged. “I thought I’d travel until I found a spot I liked with people that seemed friendly. I traveled south first, in a zig zag fashion to see as much as I could, went to Florida, then went west along the coast to New Orleans in Louisiana, somehow ended up in Austin, then met another charter of yours in Amarillo. They directed me up here; otherwise, I don’t know where I would have ended up.”

“And how long did that take?”

“About three months, I wasn’t in any hurry.” Gideon shrugged again. He had most of seven years of pay available to him, what he hadn’t spent on ‘toys,’ auto repairs, cigarettes and lollipops, or sent home to his folks. He’d been a lot more careful with his money than most of his fellow troopers. He thought it might have been coming from a place where he hadn’t had a lot of it. Though, he’d seen other farm boys spend money like water once they got their hands on it.

This was part of the reason why Beda refusing rent was frustrating. He didn’t know how to get her to accept the rent without telling her exactly how much he had which wasn’t any of her business. He paused as something occurred to him. “Maybe you could help me with something,” he said. “Why doesn’t anyone use last names around here?”

Raoul put the tips of his fingers to his lips. “My theory, and this is only a theory, is that as a pack we are more group minded. Last names were usually started for the sake of individualism to be able to tell the John who ran the smithy versus John the King apart. And then they were passed down from generation to generation in the pretensions that lineage passed through the father actually mattered. However, being a pack, we’re more interested in whether or not you are part of the group, and where you fit in the group as an individual than your lineage.”

“And that’s supposed to make sense,” Gideon said.

Raoul tilted his head and opened his mouth to speak. He got interrupted. Skyler stopped behind Raoul, pulled her curls back with one hand and leaned down and kissed his cheek. “Hey Daddy, aren’t you going to get any food?”

Gideon almost dropped his fork again. Did any of Savannah’s friend’s fathers make any sense?

“I was feeding my mind,” Raoul replied.

“You need to feed your belly in order to keep your mind working.” Skyler wrinkled her nose and winked at Gideon.

Raoul sighed. “I suppose.” He brightened. “You know my daughter. Have you met my wife?” he asked Gideon.

Gideon shook his head.

“She’s around here somewhere,” Raoul muttered.

“Maybe you better go find her daddy, she’ll make sure you eat.” Skyler wrinkled her nose.

Raoul got up. “We’ll have to finish this conversation later. I would love to hear about the packs you met while on your journey.”

Gideon waved a fork at him. Raoul drifted away into the crowd and Skyler took his seat.

“You doing all right?” she asked.

He swallowed. “I’ve met Ashley, again, and I met Brier.”

Skyler affected a shudder. “Poor baby.” She looked up and waved someone over. “Have you met, Kolzak? He’s a cousin to Misha and Sasha.”

Gideon looked up at him and held out his hand. “Maybe, but if I did it was in passing. Gideon.”

“And this is my girlfriend, Sappho,” Kolzak said. He looked like he was related to Misha especially, like they could be brothers instead of cousins. She had short curly brown hair and was wearing dark red lipstick. She wore a dark blue somewhat fancy dress under her kutte.

Gideon was getting more and more glad of his button down shirt or else he’d feel completely underdressed around all these females. Skyler was wearing leather pants and a nice blouse like Savannah was, but all the other females he’d met thus far were in skirts or dresses.

“She’s one of Ashley’s friends,” Skyler supplied. Then decided to add, “And related to Brier.”

Sappho shuddered and glared at Skyler. “Don’t remind me.”

Skyler turned her hands over and shrugged. Gideon didn’t know these things and in her opinion, he needed to know! “Which means, she’s related to Poppy since Poppy and Brier are sisters,” Skyler informed him.

“I like Poppy,” Sappho sniffed. “Poppy’s decent.”

“Good to know,” Gideon said, both the taken status, who she was friends with, and related to. He gave Skyler an appreciative look of thanks.

Skyler smiled and winked at him.

---

Raoul found Dakota before he found his wife. He hugged his sister-in-law and kissed her cheek being careful not to upset the plate she held in her hand. “Have you seen Nevada?”

“She’s in line,” Dakota paused, “with two plates. I’m assuming one is for you.” She kissed his cheek back.

Raoul looked at her plate and his mouth watered. Dakota had pancakes smothered in blueberry pie filling and whipped cream.

Brand cleared his throat.

Raoul let Dakota go. “Brand,” he said with a smile. Brand wasn’t quite his brother-in-law, but since Esme was Raoul’s sister and Esme was Brand’s lover, that made them family in one fashion or another.

“Hello, Raoul,” Brand said. He had a box under his arm. It was wrapped in dark maroon paper with silver ribbons and a large bow.

“I’m trying to find my wife,” Raoul said.

Brand eyed him. “I don’t know where she is.”

“A good thing Dakota does.” Raoul bounced on his toes.

Brand turned to Dakota. “I know that this isn’t your party,” he said. “But I got you a present.”

Dakota narrowed her eyes and turned to Raoul. “Would you hold this, please?” She raised an eyebrow at him and looked down her nose. “And no snacking.”

“She doesn’t trust me,” Raoul said. “Can you believe she doesn’t trust me?”

Brand grinned. “You’ve been eyeing the blueberry pie filling.”

“I like blueberry pie filling,” Raoul replied.

“Keep your fingers out of it!” Dakota told him. She took the box from Brand. She eyed it. “You’re right. This isn’t my party. What is the occasion?”

Brand’s lips twitched.

Dakota’s brow furrowed and she pulled the bow loose on top before going after the tape with her fingernails. She unfolded the paper and her eyebrow rose. The box, according to the outside, held a phone.

“Try not to break this one,” Brand said and leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “Please.”

“This isn’t a gift! It’s a repayment!” Dakota said.

Brand chuckled, turned around, took two steps, and grabbed the Clarks’ baby, Clarence, out of Clara’s arm. “Come here you and let your mother eat!” he said and bounced him to a hip.

Raoul stifled a laugh. “Here, untouched,” he said and held Dakota’s plate out to her. She swiped her plate back and glared at him. He took off into the crowd and started to laugh as soon as there was distance between them.

Dakota grumbled to herself and went to find a table. She wanted to open the box and make sure it was what the box said it was. She wouldn’t put it past Brand to put something else in the box to annoy her.

---

Gideon offered his seat to Kolzak’s girlfriend, Sappho, and winked at Spike. He needed to keep moving to keep from being bombarded, and his plate was now empty and he was still hungry. He wanted seconds and a chance at the cupcakes before they were all gone.

He headed back towards the tables and almost ran into a black haired curvy woman with a sweet face shepherding three little girls. Gideon stopped abruptly and grabbed one of the little girls before she ran into him. “I’m sorry, ma’am,” he said.

Her eyes widened. “Ain’t you sweet? No need to be sorry, it’s a miracle we ain’t trampling over each other in this crowd.” She reached up and pushed her hair behind her ear. “Now who might you be?”

He relaxed his shoulders and tried not to eye her in disbelief. “I’m Gideon, ma’am.”

“Oh, you’re the new prospect that everyone is gossiping about.” She beamed at him. “I’m Christie,” she said.

Gideon blinked. He knew that name. Barely, but he knew the name. “Deputy Josiah’s wife.”

“That I am,” Christy beamed. “And these are our precious babies, Lillian, Rosemary, and Marigold.”

The little girls gathered around their mother and smiled up at him shyly. They all had dark hair, dark eyes, and took after their mother, simply varied by age and size.

Gideon smiled back at them. “I’m pleased to meet you,” he said.

Christie reached out and ran her fingers through the youngest one’s hair, the one who was clinging closest to her. “How do you like Jasper?”

Gideon shifted his attention back to Josiah’s wife. “It reminds me a lot of the small towns I grew up near,” he said. “It’s quiet. I like quiet.”

Christie beamed at him. “Oh, that is good to hear. We like it quiet too. Josiah works hard to help keep it that way.’

“I’m certain he does,” Gideon said.

“Being a former soldier, have you ever considered going into law enforcement yourself?” Christie asked him.

“That actually hadn’t occurred to me,” Gideon replied. “I haven’t really been able to settle in much to think about it.” He knew it might appeal to him more than a hardware store or bagging groceries. He wondered if he should thank her for the career advice despite the fact she was a stranger he’d met. He decided not to, he wouldn’t be able to keep his sarcasm under control.

Christie waved a hand. “Oh, don’t mind my flights of fancy. You’re more than right. You need to settle in and all. Though I know it would do Josiah a world of good if he knew he had someone else from the Club on the force to rely on.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Though I’m sure that Josiah would like a friend more than co-worker,” Christie said.

“As soon as the Clarks’ roof is done,” Gideon said.

“Of course, that comes first, those poor dearies, to be cheated on the house like that.” Christie sighed. “Excuse me, I do need to see all of us fed.”

“I’m headed that way myself,” he said.

Christie beamed at him and one of the girls reached out and grabbed his hand, dragging him toward the tables. Christie laughed. “Lillian!”

“I’m hungry, mama!” Lillian shouted back.

Gideon shook his head and shrugged at Christie.

Christie picked up the youngest girl and held out her hand to the other, quickly catching up with them. Lillian let go of Gideon’s hand near the tables and they all joined the line.

Gideon saw Brand, holding the Clarks’ baby boy and bouncing up and down while he talked to Raoul. Raoul had his arm around Esme’s shoulders. Gideon tilted his head and looked between them. Were Esme and Raoul siblings or cousins? He turned to Christie. “Are Esme and Raoul related?” he asked.

“They’re siblings, Esme has another brother named Pierre. Her family is one of the bigger ones.” Christie nodded as she talked. “Why her father is our old sergeant-at-arms. And her brothers take more after one of her uncles. They all used to joke that the uncle was their father and not Poker.”

“Oh,” Gideon said.

“Houston is their cousin through the other uncle. You’ve met Houston?”

“In passing,” Gideon said.

Christie put a hand on his arm. “You’ll get it all straightened out eventually, duckie,” she said. “For now, unless stated otherwise, the blondes are all related to Esme.”

“That’s an easy way to remember it.” Gideon grinned. Someone had put a dishpan next to the beginning of the line for dirty plates and he stuck his in it and grabbed a clean one. He looked up. On the clubhouse wall, under the large Heaven’s Heathens sign, was a large banner that said ‘Welcome Gideon!’ He flushed. Okay, this was getting out of hand. He needed to talk to Esme.

Brand kissed the baby’s forehead and was about to say something to Raoul.

“Brand!” someone shouted.

Brand turned and was enveloped in a hug from one of the teenagers. Esme laughed and quickly grabbed the baby out of his arms, before another teenager hugged him.

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” they all said over each other. “We won’t let you down!”

“It’ll be great.”

Brand worked away from them to be hugged by another one. “Now wait a minute! What did I do?”

“Uncle Zane said you are going to let us form a band.”

“Oh, that,” Brand muttered. “Yes. Shred away to your heart’s content.”

The girl squealed and hugged him again.

One of the boys flashed a patch in his face. “We made a patch.”

“Violet and Savannah helped with the design.”

“And we want you to have one.”

Esme worked hard to keep her face straight.

“That’s, thank you,” Brand managed.

Gideon had worked down the line and he edged around the happy group of teenagers bombarding Brand and over towards Esme. He looked at them, looked at her, and decided he didn’t want to know. “Um, Esme,” he said and kicked the ground. “Thanks for the party but…” He sighed. “I don’t understand,” he muttered.

Esme shifted the baby to one arm and hugged him. She kissed his cheek. “Oh baby, we want you to like it here.”

“But, I haven’t done anything,” he said. “And, it’s not like it’s my birthday or anything.”

Esme looked down her nose at him. “You’ve expressed an interest in wanting to be one of us and we want you to know that we want you to be one of us too.”

This was breaking Gideon’s brain, “You’re throwing me a party for existing.”

Esme laughed at him. “Here, take the baby,” she said and passed him the boy.

Gideon took Clarence in his arm before he could really think it through. He still really didn’t understand. “But, but, Esme,” he said.

Esme waved him away with both hands. “Shoo and try to enjoy yourself.”

Raoul spoke up, “And try not to think of the party when you earn your patches.”

“Raoul,” Esme hissed and stepped on his toes.

Raoul grinned at her. She rolled her eyes at him and went to rescue Brand from the teenagers.

Gideon looked at the baby. “Hi,” he said.

Clarence cooed at him and waved his hands around. Gideon looked around and didn’t see Clara or Outlaw within sight. He looked back at Esme, but she was helping Brand out from whatever mess he was in with the teenagers. The teenagers looked happy. Brand looked like he was trying to swallow a lemon and remain polite.

Gideon looked back at the baby. “All right, let’s see if we can find your mom or dad,” he said. “Not that I have any idea where to start looking,” he added in a mutter. His eyes lighted on the dessert table. “Life lesson,” he told the baby and shifted him. He walked and carried both the baby and his plate without dropping either of them. “Life is uncertain, eat dessert first.”

Clarence burbled at him.

Gideon pretended that he’d said something intelligent. “Precisely. Because you never know when something bad will happen.” He stopped by the table and perused it. There were four different cupcakes, each with different decorations.

One of them was the whipped cream chocolate one that he’d had at Gold Rush. He picked that one up first and then decided to take one of each of the others. Next to the cupcakes on a large platter were rows and rows of cookies, including the peanut butter with chocolate chips and chocolate kisses on top that Savannah had given him. Gideon took one of each of those. They must have been Savannah’s contribution.

There were pies and tarts and puddings. Gideon wasn’t in the mood for them. He picked his plate back up and turned around surveying the crowd. “Here we go again,” he muttered at the baby.

The baby smiled at him, which was no manner of help at all.

He took a deep breath and reentered the crowd and started drifting through it, his eyes darting around to see if he could find Outlaw or Clara. Those two he at least knew on sight.

--

Not able to find another table, Dakota ended up putting her box on the end of the table with all the food. Reese came up behind Dakota and put his arms around her and put a chin on his shoulder. “What’s with the box?” he asked.

“Brand gave it to me,” Dakota said. “It says it’s a phone.”

Reese turned his head, grinned and kissed the side of her neck. “That was nice of him.”

“I don’t trust him,” Dakota rumbled.

“Don’t trust our fearless leader?” Reese tried to sound aghast, but he was struggling not to laugh.

Dakota wiggled her shoulders. “He can be such a brat,” she muttered and went after the tape on the box with her knife.

“You’re like family to him,” Reese reminded her. “He loves you.” And he knew that if Dakota didn’t get worked up over Brand’s teasing, Brand wouldn’t do it nearly as much. As it was, Brand found it entertaining and was careful to never make it personal or hurtful.

“That doesn’t mean he has to act a thirtieth his age,” Dakota grumbled and sliced the tape with a bit more force than necessary. She set the knife down and opened the box, removing the packing material and a phone. She lifted it out of the box and stared at it. The dim light glowed off the brushed steel surface.

Reese choked and recovered. “He knows you well.”

“Reese,” Dakota growled.

Reese came around, laughed, took the phone from her hands, set it back in the box, cupped her face in his hands, and kissed her.